Sawtooth-control mechanism using toroidally propagating ion-cyclotron-resonance waves in tokamaks

Phys Rev Lett. 2009 Feb 13;102(6):065005. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.065005. Epub 2009 Feb 12.

Abstract

The sawtooth control mechanism in plasmas employing off-axis toroidally propagating ion cyclotron resonance waves in tokamaks is reinvestigated. The radial drift excursion of energetic passing ions distributed asymmetrically in the velocity parallel to the magnetic field determines stability when the rational q=1 surface resides within a narrow region centered about the shifted fundamental cyclotron resonance.